Brown students study ecological impact of living close to water

PROVIDENCE–During the fast-paced lame duck session which saw the end of the Democratic Party's control of the House, climate change legislation which would have curbed industrial greenhouse gas emissions across the economy was squashed. As recently as Tuesday a climate change denier from Oklahoma, Senator Inhofe, and the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency squared off at the Republican-led EPA hearings. But while Congress debates, the science is in, carbon is rising, and the clock is ticking. Town planning departments across the state map flood zones and develop strategies for withstanding future floods which result from a changing climate. Meanwhile, undergraduate and graduate students at Brown's Center for Environmental Studies are working to analyze local events including past floods and are developing strategies for a sustainable environment.

"Most people want to live near the water," Dr. J. Timmons Roberts said. "But the ecological impacts of living so close to the ocean and local rivers needs to be studied."

In March of this year, as part of a series by the Center, an undergraduate course will present a project titled, "The March, 2010 Floods: What Have We Learned?" The class will issue a press release, roll out six projects over a two-day period, and host a panel discussion where the public can ask the student researchers questions about the interviews and data they acquired from around the state.